12 of my favourite albums for sound

Lots of people have asked me for albums I think sound great – so, here are some that spring instantly to mind. I should say upfront, this isn’t intended to be some kind of “top 12 best sounding albums ever” list, just some from my own collection that I love the sound of, for whatever reason.

If you take a listen, you’ll probably notice some pretty clear recurring themes – suggestions in the comments, please ! I’ve compiled this Spotify Playlist so you can hear the songs.

So, in no particular order:

Beck – Sea Change

Why ? Simply one of the best-sounding albums of all time. Big, warm, intimate, natural, atmospheric… and that’s not even mentioning the surround mix !

Burial – Untrue

Why ? Brooding, dark, glitchy, with rumbling subsonic basslines – what’s not to love ? A sonic world you can sink into and lose yourself in.

Favourite track: “Archangel”

Prince – Sign o’ The Times

Why ? This album is Prince at his peak – playing absolutely everything on many of the tracks, he hasn’t sounded this good since he threw away the drum machines. Dry, clean, bass-light, with his trademark guitar-sound and brass section. Sound effects, varispeed vocals, wild guitar solos – unparalleled.

Favourite track: “Sign o’ The Times”. No, “Housequake”. I mean, “If I Was You Girlfriend”. Oh hell, all of them !

Peter Gabriel 4 (‘Security’)

Why ? This was the other tape I played non-stop back-to-back with ‘Sign o’ The Times’ for a whole summer. Another artist at the top of his game, full of distinctive production techniques, including one of the earliest uses of that eighties staple – the gated reverb.

Favourite track: “I Have The Touch”

Bjork – Homeogenic

Why ? This album is another “sonic world” for me – almost entirely beats, synths and strings, and featuring some of my favourite Bjork songs of all time. Mesmeric.

Favourite track: “Joga”

Gil Scott-Heron – Pieces Of A Man

Why ? There are times when all you want from a production is straightforward, honest recordings of the instruments, and that’s what I love here. Powerful lyrics and simple, direct production.

Favourite track: “Lady Day and John Coltrane”

Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Welcome To The Pleasuredome

Why ? At the other extreme, I don’t see how anyone who loves music production can argue with this choice – where the producer played almost all of the instruments! Perhaps the perfect example of manufactured sound ?

Favourite track: “Welcome to The Pleasuredome”, especially the introduction. I just love the bird sound effects (or, are they synths ?) and the little vocoder-thing that introduces the beat.

Goldfrapp – Felt Mountain

Why ? Any album that seamlessly blends an operatic vocal with what sounds like a theremin and then changes one into the other until you can’t tell any more where one begins and the other ends is always going to get my vote… but there are so many moments I love on this album. Electronica, soundtrack, synth-pop, folk, cabaret… magic.

Favourite track: “Utopia”

Brian Eno & David Byrne – My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts

Why ? This album was insanely influential, and is an all-time favourite of mine. Production-wise, they invented sampling before the sampler existed – what more do you want ? OK then, how about complex african rhythms, startlingly innovative textures and a song that soundtracks an exorcism ?

Favourite track: “Regiment”

Imogen Heap – Speak For Yourself

Why ? Regular readers will already know how highly I rate Immi as a producer – check out her YouTube video diaries where (for example) she plays the light fittings in the ceiling of her studio, amongst other things. My only reservation is that if anything, her albums end up sounding a little too polished, so all those wacky sounds drift past without us noticing them properly. Luckily, we can always go and see her live !

Favourite track: “Hide and Seek”

Pet Sounds – The Beach Boys

Why ? This is one of my favourite albums of all time – but oddly enough, only since I heard the stereo mixes. There are people who swear by the original mono release, but I need the ear-candy. It’s just a sublime example of arrangements supporting incredible songs. I can’t recommend the “Sessions” box-set highly enough – hearing the instrumental backings alone, and the studio out-takes where Wilson experiments with combining sounds is a revelation. This man was using additive synthesis long before the synthesiser was ever invented…

Favourite track: “Don’t Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)”

And finally, a few that nearly-made-the-list-but-didn’t, either because they were a bit “obvious” or because I wanted more variety: Blur – Parklife; The Beatles – Rubber Soul; Stevie Wonder – Songs In The Key Of Life; Pink Floyd – The Wall (Actually “Wish You Were Here” is the best-sounding Floyd album, but The Wall is another little sonic world…); Miles Davis – Kind Of Blue; Primal Scream – Vanishing Point (bass clarinet, baby !); Radiohead – In Rainbows; Steven Wilson – Insurgentes; Supergrass – I Should Coco; Underworld – Dubnobasswithmyheadman; The Strokes – Is This It; Nick Drake – Five Leaves Left; Pixies – Trompe le Monde… and many others !

Edit #2 – lots of great suggestions in the comments – how could I forget Nevermind ?! – but check out my comments about one of them in particular, in the next post – Personality In Audio

OK, let’s have it then – which are your favourite albums sonically, and why ?

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Comments

1 Tord Gustavsen trio “Being there”
Fantastic deep soundstage with fantastic sound!
You can hear the wood in the drumstic playing the rider!
The piano is so natrual and harmonic! T.G is so sensitive
and has such good timing in his performance that the
most amazing part of the piano is the air between the notes!
It’s à “must have”!

2. Dominic Miller “5th House”
Great soundstage with big dynamics!
Great separation between instruments providing good 3D.
The track “if only” brings the best out of your gear!

BUT, i really like Megadeth production as well. You mention Rust In Piece but to me one of the best sounding hard rock / metal albums ever is the YOUTHANASIA remaster. Really beautiful.

I WOULD LIKE TO ASK THE AUTOR OF THE POST what he thinks of the new Beck album, Morning Phase (an spiritual sucessor to Sea Change). To me, it has an amazing guitar sound, but too much bass/low frequencies on the mix, quite annoying.

just discovered this and it is brilliant. Loads of great info for self taught recording geeks who never have enough money for the good stuff.
Agree there Is definitely not enough Fletwood Mac and no mention of Tusk!!
Also not enough Radiohead. Apart from the obvious Ok Computer, for me The Bends was big eye opener. (Or ear opener). The drum sound and special position is magical.
Also have to add Earth Wind and Fire Raise – one of the first albums where I dicovered a real stereo sound which was an amazing experience for my young (at the time) ears. I still remember sitting in front of my mates HiFi, mouth open in amazement as Let’s Groove started up.
Lastly John Mellencamo Lonesome Jubileefor the split tracking and feeling that they are in the room next to you playing brilliant music.

A great collection of music in these posts. Genre obviously plays a part – for me it is hard to listen to genres that I just do not like – even when well recorded.
We design and build HiFi speakers and listen to lots of music in the process, some very good recordings not mentioned in this article so far are also worth a spin.

Very surprised Dr Dre’s ‘2001’ wasn’t mentioned at all… if your not a fan of rap give the instrumental version of the album a listen… pure funk masterpiece with flawless engineering. ACDC also has an extremely crisp sound to their music if your into rock, but if you are, you probably already know that.

There has been so much amazing music it would be totally impossible to put together a top 10. And if I could it would keep changing day by day depending on how I feel on any day.

But there is one album that has so much personality it would always be high on my list and it’s Flock of Beeps by Younger Brother. It goes way past anything I’ve ever heard (and that includes its nearest rival My Life in the Bush of Ghosts).

Lots of good stuff here. What I hadn’t realized is how many well recorded hard rock albums exist. I’m a fan of all sorts of music, but I typically don’t look to hard rock to find something that shines on my equipment.

There were a few artists/albums that I’m surprised haven’t been mentioned. Steely Dan paid very close attention to sound engineering. Albums like Aja and Gaucho are well made. Not my favorite music, but I appreciate the quality of their recordings. Related would be Donald Fagen’s The Nightfly.

Do remasters count or are they considered blasphemy? Elton John The Superior Sound of (1970-1975) is really worth a listen. Gus Dudgeon not only remastered, but also did some remixing. The result is really good. If you can find this one, get it.

AC/DC isn’t a band that comes to mind when I think of sound, but Back in Black actually sounds remarkably balanced on my system.

Trip Hop is missing from this list. Portishead’s Dummy sounds pretty nice. I can’t listen to Glory Box without playing it loud.

Stevie Ray Vaughn Couldn’t Stand The Weather is easy on the eardrums. Tin Pan Alley alone is worth the price of admission.

Not much country added here, but there is a ton of well recorded country albums out there mixed in with the junk. One that I like is Ride With Bob by Asleep at the Wheel. The mix and craftsmanship of the musicians comes alive.